The Present
by welshie
Summary: Sydney chooses a present for Vaughn's birthday. A bit fluffy and a bit shippy! 2nd chapter added.
1. Chapter 1

****

The Present 

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: The show and characters do not belong to me.

Summary: Sydney gives Vaughn a birthday gift. (Sounds smutty, but isn't!) Set some time after 'Spirit' (when Vaughn gave Sydney the Christmas gift).

Please feel free to tell me what you think of the first chapter! Thanks!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sydney walked in and sat down in Vaughn's office. She looked around trying to see if he had any personal photos now that Alice, his ex-girlfriend's picture was gone. She was secretly pleased that there weren't any in his office. She crossed her legs and waited patiently for Vaughn to start going through some future plans the CIA had for her.

"Oh" Vaughn said looking through the folder that was in front of him. "Sydney, I'm sorry. There seems to be a file missing from here. I'll just go and get it."

"No problem." She said smiling. As he walked out of the office she found herself looking at her watch. She got up from her chair and paced around his office looking for anything to give her more clues about Vaughn's life away from his job. She picked up a book from the bookcase in the corner of the office. She began to flick through it, but was disappointed to find it was work related.

At that moment Agent Weiss popped his head around the doorframe.

"Agent Bristow." He whispered as loudly as he could.

Sydney spun around looking guilty as if she had been caught stealing chocolate. The expression on her face soon changed to relief when she saw it wasn't Vaughn.

"Hey." She managed to reply.

"I just thought you'd like to know it's Mike's birthday on Thursday."

"Who?" Sydney asked genuinely puzzled.

"Michael Vaughn." He said surprised he had to state the obvious.

"Oh!" Her face reddened with embarrassment.

"I value my life! So don't tell him I told you."

"Sure." She answered.

"Gotta go." Weiss quickly walked away when he spotted Vaughn making his way back with the recovered file. 

"Bye." Sydney called out. Sydney quickly moved across the room and sat back down in her chair before Vaughn walked back in.

"What did Eric want?" Vaughn asked as he sat down.

"N-Nothing." She stumbled. "He just came over to say hi'." 

"Oh, okay. Anyway here's the file. This shouldn't take long."

Right." She tried to concentrate on what Vaughn was saying, but her mind drifted. She kept thinking how unfair it was. She would have liked to have given him a gift or maybe be able to take him out for a drink or even dinner. Anything. But she knew it couldn't happen. She continued to think about it on the way home and finally decided to discuss it with Francie.

Later that day Sydney opened the door to her apartment and headed straight to the kitchen. She opened the fridge door and grabbed the carton of orange juice. As she poured herself a drink, Francie walked into the kitchen from her bedroom.

"You're back early Syd." Francie said.

"Yeah." I wasn't that busy at work so I left sooner than expected." Syd replied.

Francie took an empty glass that was nearby and poured herself a drink as well.

"Francie?" Sydney said trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Hmm?" Francie replied absently between sips of orange juice.

"There's a guy at work. It's his birthday soon and I want to get him a something, but I don't have a clue what to get him. Do you have any ideas?!"

"What about a CD?" Francie suggested.

"I don't know what type of music he likes."

"A book?"

"Maybe. I don't want it to be too personal. He's just a guy that works in my department that's all."

"Wait. Is it that guy that gave you that photo frame?"

"Er, yes." Sydney hesitated, not sure if she should tell the truth.

"Socks?! Men always need socks."

"Thanks for the useful suggestions! I might stick with the CD idea."

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Good." Sydney was pleased with the idea of a CD. It seemed harmless enough. No one would be able to guess that it was from her. So neither of them would get into any trouble.

After dinner that evening, Sydney went to her bedroom and opened the box that contained all her childhood photos. The photo frame that Vaughn had given her was hidden in the box. She took it out and studied the design of the frame. It was as if she could feel the history and craftsmanship as she ran her fingers across it. She the placed the frame on her bedside table. It was somehow comforting even though there was no photo in it. She decided to keep it like that near her bed as she slept.

Her eye caught the small wooden box that was behind her alarm clock. As she opened it she remembered that sitting in one of the drawers was a silver pen. Her father had given it to her when she was fifteen. It was typical of the type of gift he gave her throughout her life. He had given it to her because she had done well in her exams that year. It was a beautiful silver and black fountain pen. She had always felt it was too good for her to use.

All these years later' she thought 'and there is still a massive distance between us.' She had held onto the pen all this time. She was only beginning to understand him now. She knew that the barrier he had created was to protect himself and therefore herself. Now that the pen finally meant something to her, maybe she could let go of it.

The next day as she was driving to the grocery store she noticed a little jewellery store and decided to stop and go in.

"Excuse me." She said to the old man that owned the store. "Would it be possible to get this pen engraved?"

"Yes, of course." The white haired man replied. "What would you like written on it?"

"Thursday's date and a _S'_ after it." She picked out a font and several minutes later the silver pen came back to her beautifully engraved. Her smile as she thanked the storeowner was mixed with sadness for a moment. She wished all the secrets in her life could be swept away if only for a day.


	2. Chapter 2

Sydney returned to her apartment after she finished her shopping and put the pen in a box and carefully wrapped it. She made the phone call to set up the meeting and wrote in the card she'd give to Vaughn and drove over to the warehouse.

As usual she found Vaughn waiting for her. She noticed he was wearing casual clothes, jeans and a black sweater. There were two paper cups sitting on the table next to him. The hot coffee in them made little clouds of steam that rose into the air. Vaughn handed a cup to her.

"Thanks." Sydney said before sitting down in the empty chair next to Vaughn. "I'm sorry for calling you out here on non-work related stuff. I know how careful we have to be." She added.

"No, it's not a problem. I said you can call me anytime. Is something the matter?" He asked looking concerned.

"No, no I'm fine." She quickly responded.

"Oh!" He said visibly relieved. On the drive to the warehouse he had wondered why Sydney had called him. All sorts of scenario's played out in his mind. None of them were good.

"Ijust wanted to give you this." She said nervously. She handed over the wrapped box and envelope.

"What's this?" He asked genuinely surprised.

"It's a birthday gift. Happy Birthday!" She smiled.

"How did you find out? I can't remember telling you when it was."

"Eric. Although he said I couldn't tell you he told me."

"Makes perfect sense now!"

"It's not much." She said apologetically. "But I don't want to get you into any trouble." Sydney knew that there should be no obvious connection between them. If she left a trail back from herself to Vaughn, they'd both be risking possible punishment from Devlin.

"You didn't have to get me anything, but thank you." He smiled secretly pleased she had wanted to get him a gift.

"You can open it." She said eager to see his reaction.

Vaughn carefully undid the wrapping and opened the box. He pulled out the pen from the box and examined the engraving on it.

"My father gave the pen to me when I was 15." Sydney explained.

"I can't take something so important to you." Vaughn put the pen back in the box and immediately handed it back to Sydney.

"No, it's okay. I want you to have it." She lifted her hands up so that she couldn't take it back. "I did want to get you something better, something a friend would give. But I know I can't raise suspicions. So a pen was the best I could come up with. At least now it's more personal."

Vaughn understood exactly what she meant. He had never told her it had taken him forever to choose that Christmas present for her. Something she would like and yet something that couldn't be linked to him.

"It's a lovely pen. I guess I should open the card too!" Vaughn expected maybe just a 'happy birthday' hurriedly scrawled. Instead he got:

__

'Happy Birthday! I'm truly grateful for all your support and advice, but most importantly, for your friendship.'

Sydney didn't sign the card, but that didn't matter to Vaughn. He closed the card and saw on the front of it a painting of a woman on the edge of a cornfield looking into the distance. On the other side of the cornfield was another figure, a man maybe walking towards the woman, maybe away from her. As Vaughn's eyes lingered over the picture, he couldn't help feeling that it summed up their entire relationship. It seemed to him as if the cornfield represented all the obstacles that stood in the way of them being able to be totally honest with each other. Perhaps now, that was how Sydney viewed it too. They both understood their situation and it gave him some comfort. He looked up at Sydney's face.

"Thank you." He finally said.

"I should thank Eric since you never would have told me it was your birthday!" she said trying to lighten the atmosphere. Vaughn just smiled sheepishly. "I should go." Sydney reluctantly added.

"Yeah." Vaughn nodded his head and turned around to see her walking away.

"Sydney?" Vaughn tentatively said.

"Uh-huh?" Sydney spun around to face him again.

"I know I keep saying it to you, but it will all get better one day. When you bring SD-6 down, it will get better." He said not only to Sydney, but to himself as well.

"When _we_ bring SD-6 down." She replied as she walked up to him. "I can keep going as long as you keep telling me it'll get better, Vaughn." She whispered. She moved closer and gently kissed Vaughn on the cheek. She smiled briefly and turned to walk out again.

Vaughn waited for a few moments, just listening to the sound of Sydney's footsteps gradually fading away. He then opened the box and lifted the pen out once again. As he noticed how the dim overhead light reflected off the silver on the pen, he tried to think of a time before he had known Sydney. He knew that his life was far simpler back then. But he realised that he preferred having her in his life. Being the only person she could talk with honestly and him listening to her was enough for him, for now.

Vaughn walked into his apartment, throwing his suit jacket and keys onto the chair near the doorway. He remembered the card Sydney gave him was still in his jacket pocket. He fished it out and walked over to his CD player. He switched it on and pressed play. He then placed the card by the side of one of the speakers. He smiled briefly to himself as he flopped onto the couch. He liked how the card would occasionally remind him of Sydney when he'd least expect it. Perhaps while watching a game on TV, he'd glance across to the corner of the room to the card and Sydney's face would appear in his mind. It would let him remember a good time, the nervous expression on her face when she handed him the gift thinking he wouldn't like it and the relief on her face when he finally accepted it.

The next day Vaughn sat in his office, twirling the pen that Sydney gave him around in his fingers. He was deep in thought when Weiss walked in, interrupting his reverie.

"Michael!" He exclaimed, wanting to startle him.

"Huh? What?" Vaughn said finally noticing Weiss standing there.

"What's up with you? You usually look like that when she's on a mission."

"I'm fine." Vaughn said looking directly at Weiss. "Besides Sydney's not on a mission."

"Okay! It just looked like you were a million miles away."

"What are you doing here?" Vaughn asked trying to change the subject.

"Lunch, of course." Weiss knew better than to push Vaughn for an answer. Vaughn stood up and discreetly put the pen in his pocket hoping Weiss hadn't noticed it.

"Is that the time?! I'm starving, let's go." Vaughn said leading the way out of his office.

Sydney opened the door of her apartment. "Francie?" Sydney called out.

"I'm in here." Francie replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just back for lunch. I can't stay long." She answered.

So did that guy in your department like his birthday gift?" Francie asked.

"Yeah." Sydney said heading to the fridge and opening the door. "Yeah, I think he did." She added trying to hide a smile that despite her best efforts, soon became a grin.

I think that's the end- if only because I can't think of a way to continue the story!

And thanks for the positive reviews! I really appreciated them.


End file.
